ARTICLES ABOUT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BY DATE - PAGE 2

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, said Iraq had been led in an authoritarian direction by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and threatened to end the oil-rich autonomous region's participation in the federal government. Iraq held elections on April 30. The results have yet to be announced but Kurdish support is crucial to Maliki's ambitions for a third term. The incumbent premier's rivals, both Shi'ite and Sunni, are hoping Barzani and the Kurds will help them thwart Maliki's bid to stay in office for four more years.

Most people, perhaps even the super-wealthy, who are usually accountable to auditors, want to know where their money goes. This is especially true when they detect money for which they can't account. Not so with the federal government. Some recent headlines reflect a disturbing pattern that has contributed to our $17 trillion debt and to a growing cynicism among the public, which increasingly regards government in a negative light. Here are just a few recent gems gleaned from reading newspaper stories and wire service reports: "Pentagon to destroy $1 billion in ammunition."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. government contractor carrying out background checks on federal employees is facing up to five years in jail after pleading guilty to falsely claiming he had conducted investigations, officials said on Thursday. Brian Rapier, 34, worked for U.S. Investigations Services Inc., (USIS), the same company that handled the background investigation of Aaron Alexis, who gunned down 12 people at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. in September before police shot and killed him. The Office of Personnel Management, which handles hiring for the U.S. government, contracted USIS to conduct the bulk of background checks on federal employees.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York State said it finalized an agreement with the U.S. government on Monday allowing it to reinvest $8 billion of federal money in its health insurance system for low income people while avoiding potentially painful cuts or additional budget strain. Over the next five years, the state will keep the federal savings it makes by reforming its existing Medicaid program. The savings, slated to total more than $17 billion by the end of the 2014-2015 financial year, were identified by a group established in 2011 by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk on Sunday sharply criticized a feature of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, contending Illinois' expansion of Medicaid coverage deceives people into believing they have health insurance. The state's junior senator was joined by Republican governor nominee Bruce Rauner, who warned of the potential for a “massive” budget hole down the road due to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's Medicaid expansion. Still, Rauner stopped short of saying Illinois should roll back the expanded Medicaid program.

The board running Cook County's public health system on Friday approved a contract worth up to $1.8 billion over five years to manage health care for an estimated 115,000 low-income residents as the county adapts to the federal Affordable Care Act. IlliniCare Health Plan Inc., a division of St. Louis-based Centene Corp. that already manages health care programs for the state of Illinois, was chosen to operate the CountyCare program. Through CountyCare, people receive either Medicaid or insurance subsidies via the Affordable Care Act, which has come to be known as Obamacare.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government said on Friday it would recognize same-sex marriages carried out last week in Michigan but left in limbo by a court appeal, making the couples entitled to appropriate federal benefits. More than 300 couples were married last Saturday, a day after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman lifted Michigan's same-sex marriage ban, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution. The state appealed the ruling later on Saturday and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said the newly-weds would not receive state benefits of marriage until the matter is settled in court.

(Reuters) - A few U.S. states whose newly created Obamacare insurance exchanges were stalled by technology failures may join the federal government's HealthCare.gov marketplace for next year, while only two states that relied on the administration plan to go it alone. Exchange officials in Oregon, Maryland and Massachusetts are weighing whether to enlist new private technology contractors or to turn to the federal government after faulty exchanges slowed enrollment in their states to the lowest rates in the country.

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina sued the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday over the federal government's plans to scrap a plutonium recycling plant that has been under construction for years in the state, arguing it violates a nuclear non-proliferation treaty with Russia. The plant, called MOX for Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, was intended to turn leftover weapons-grade plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel. But in a budget request to Congress last week for the fiscal year 2015, the National Nuclear Security Administration proposed suspending the plant, citing cost overruns for the $30 billion project, which is about 60 percent complete.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a smaller budget deficit than expected in February as receipts came in stronger than in the same period a year ago. The federal government ran $193.5 billion into the red last month, the Treasury Department said on Thursday in a monthly budget statement. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a budget deficit of $212.0 billion. Receipts totaled $144 billion in February, up from $123 billion in February 2013. (Reporting by Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Andrea Ricci)